Construction Work Done, Australia, Preliminary

The value of total construction work done rose 2.4% in the March quarter, in seasonally adjusted terms. The rise was driven by building construction, which rose 2.5% in the March quarter, but is 1.8% lower than at the same time last year. Engineering work done rose 2.2%, but is 0.3% lower than at the same time last year.  

The value of building work done rose 2.5% in the March quarter, in seasonally adjusted terms. The increase was driven by residential building work done, which rose 5.1% in the March quarter, and is 4.2% higher than at the same time last year. Non-residential building work done declined by 1.6%, and is 10.4% lower than at the same time last year.

Total construction work done rose in New South Wales, South Australia, Western Australia and the Australian Capital Territory but fell in all other states and territories.

This publication provides an early indication of trends in building and engineering construction activity. The data are estimates based on a response rate of approximately 75% of the value of both building and engineering work done during the quarter. This is lower than the average response rate due to difficulties collecting data this quarter due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This has not significantly impacted the quality of the estimates. More comprehensive and updated results will be released in Engineering Construction Activity, Australia on 30 June 2021 and in Building Activity, Australia on 14 July 2021.

Mining projects tend to be complex in structure and comprise a number of different investment activities including exploration, engineering construction, plant and equipment and buildings. A feature article released in the March 2012 issue of Private New Capital Expenditure and Expected Expenditure, Australia provides a summary of the conceptual basis of the relevant ABS publications that measure investment in Australia, using a hypothetical mining project to illustrate how this investment is reflected in ABS data.

The trend series attempts to measure underlying behaviour in construction activity. This measurement will be significantly affected by changes to regular patterns in activity during this time, as the construction industry faces on-going uncertainty. If the trend estimates in this publication were to be calculated without fully accounting for this irregular event, they would likely provide a misleading view of underlying construction activity.

It may be some time before the underlying trend in construction activity can be accurately estimated. The trend series have therefore been suspended starting from June 2020. The trend series will be reinstated when more certainty emerges in the underlying trend.

Building and Engineering Activity use the concurrent seasonal adjustment method, meaning that seasonal factors are re-estimated each time a new data point becomes available. If not appropriately accounted for, unusual real-world events, such as COVID-19, can distort estimates calculated using this method.

From September 2020, seasonal factors are being calculated using data up to and including June 2020, then projected from September 2020 onwards, for:

•  Private and total sector non-residential building work done in Victoria.

From March 2021, seasonal factors are being calculated using data up to and including December 2020, then projected from March 2021 onwards, for:

• Private and total sector non-residential building work done in Queensland, and
• new houses and alterations and additions to residential work done series in all states and territories.

This approach, known as the forward factor method, ensures that the seasonal factors are not distorted by COVID-19 impacts.

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This release previously used catalogue number 8755.0.